They meet again Monday morning; here are videos from when they voted two weeks ago.
There was a
brief update on the Shiloh Road sinkhole,
adding to
the previous morning’s report;
see also
news reports.
The rest of the meeting was rather predictable Continue reading
Category Archives: Transparency
Agriculture, Internet access, and Transportation driving Development @ LCC 2015-08-24
New County Extension Agent
Jenna Kicklighter will introduce herself at Monday morning’s Work Session,,
they’ll consider a
a
Beer and Wine License for Dollar General,
a
new secondary
Internet Bandwidth Contract
with
Mediacom,
and the US 41 N widening has already spawned
further road paving
to promote development:
Lowndes County Engineering has received a proposal Continue reading
$9.40 for a mound of paper @ LCC 2015-08-10
Gretchen made an Open Records request Monday morning and
it was available Tuesday 4:37 PM: mostly on paper and less than
an hour before the Commission voted.
The rezoning material from the Planning office was sent by electronic mail. The rest cost $9.40 to retrieve on paper. Nevermind in the email earlier Tuesday of the old ordinance from 1992 the county staff demonstrated they can put a paper document on their copier and produce a PDF. They could have done that with the rest of the board packet. Why didn’t they?
The Work Session was Monday morning at 8:30 AM 10 Aug 2015. Gretchen was notified by telephone about 4:30 PM Tuesday 11 Aug 2015. The County Palace closes at 5PM. The Commission met at 5:30 PM Tuesday to vote. So none Continue reading
Videos: Unknown ordinance, numerous emergencies, small rezoning, and alcohol @ LCC 2015-08-10
Here are videos of yesterday morning’s Work Session.
This morning, the same day as tonight’s voting Regular Session,
we got a few answers to some of yesterday’s questions about the
Nuisance Abatement Ordinance:
What 1992 ordinance? Which state law? Where’s the new draft?
Here’s the old ordinance and the new draft. And the memo wrapping the new draft refers to O.C.G.A. §§41-2-7 through 41-2-17. The memo doesn’t seem to say when that Georgia law was updated.
Here’s the
agenda.
See also the Continue reading
Minutes from 2006, Lowndes County Commission
Minutes aren’t on Lowndes County’s new website back more than a few years.
Even on their previous website, three sets of minutes were not there.
More than four years after Gretchen asked,
she
asked again,
and today we finally got those three.
Look who signed those minutes as County Clerk:
K. Paige Dukes, the same County Clerk who took four years to
return them in response to an Open Records request.
Here’s the message, and I’ve linked in those minutes.
-jsq
From: Amanda Smith <asmith@lowndescounty.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 16:43:18 +0000
To: “‘land@quarterman.org'” <land@quarterman.org>
Subject: Meeting MinutesAs per your request, I have attached the meeting minutes from 8/8/06, 12/12/06, and 12/20/06. Continue reading
Got one Lowndes County ordinance (nuisance abatement) after five years asking @ LCC 2015-08-10
Back in 2011 the County Clerk didn’t say which May she would provide
that list of ordinances….
Her response of today is below.
The
old ordinance is so old it’s signed by Inez Pendleton.
It’s still in force, though, so shouldn’t it be on the county’s website,
along with all the other ordinances in force that also aren’t there? See below for list; also notice the dates I’ve boldfaced.
The
proposed new ordinance
is not readily translatable to plain text; looks like she scanned a paper copy.
Both are relevant to
today’s Lowndes County Commission meeting.
For the minutes she mentioned, see separate post.
-jsq
From: Paige Dukes <pdukes@lowndescounty.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 15:42:29 +0000
To: John and Gretchen Quarterman <land@quarterman.org>
Subject: RE: Open Records Request for OrdinancesGood Afternoon Gretchen,
As per your request, please find the attached Continue reading
Unknown ordinance, numerous emergencies, small rezoning, and alcohol @ LCC 2015-08-10
How can we “Know the Laws” as the county’s
front page says,
if a county ordinance being revised isn’t there and isn’t
distributed when the county is about to vote on it Tuesday evening
after the Work Session this morning at 8:30 AM?
For the Nuisance Abatement Ordinance the packet agenda sheet says only: Continue reading
The usual detour around Shiloh Road sinkhole
LAKE learned about this because the County Clerk shared it on facebook
to her friends some of whom happen to be Gretchen’s friends.
Maybe mighty Lowndes County can afford its own facebook page?
PLEASE SHARE. Lowndes County Engineering has closed Shiloh Road at Franks Creek due to a very large sinkhole. Citizens will need to take the usual detour. Please do not visit the area, this is not a photo opportunity. Sinkholes are unpre…
That personal Paige Dukes facebook post did not seem to have any corresponding information on lowndescounty.com last night.
The VDT took it as a photo opportunity. Adam Floyd, VDT, 7:27 am 5 August 2015, Large sinkhole swallows pond, closes Shiloh Rd., Continue reading
Nydia Tisdale wins First Amendment Award for her Citizen Journalism, Fighting for the Right to Record
Update 2015-08-07: corrections by Nydia, including a timeline.
Only a bit more than three years since
the pictured incident,
Nydia Tisdale gets some of the recognition she deserves.
Georgia citizen journalist Nydia Tisdale is in the news again but this time, the story doesn’t involve her getting thrown out of a public meeting or arrested in a pumpkin patch.
Tisdale is being honored by Georgia’s First Amendment Foundation for her work in making public meetings available to the citizens of her community and for her dedication to keeping government open for everyone’s participation.
After getting thrown out of the Cumming City Council for videoing in April 2012, Nydia got Continue reading
Who are the Lowndes County Tax Assessors?
This should be an easy question, but it isn’t. Why not?
And the answer is a saw sales owner who previously promoted development in an agricultural region of Lowndes County, a realtor whose job is to promote development, and a preacher who previously chaired a board that wanted to take tax money from the county without rural citizens being able to vote on it. None of them appear to have any experience in agriculture. These are the people who oversaw the recent revaluation of rural (and commercial) properties that would drive development into parts of Lowndes County that the Comprehensive Plan says should be agricultural. Now I know all three of them, and they’re fine people. But perhaps some rural people need to ask them some questions.
The list on lowndescounty.com of Lowndes County’s elected Tax Assessors is not remotely correct: Doyle Kelly is no longer serving due to illness, yet he’s still on that list, along with Mike Hill and W.G. Walker.
Mike Hill runs Continue reading